Beautiful Arrow

Yumichika is a narcissist who thinks of himself as perfectly beautiful and judges everybody and everything based on their beauty (or lack thereof). He also tends to be a show off to others. Yumichika even picked his seat by the self-perceived beauty of it. He thinks that the number four doesn't look beautiful, preferring the number three. Because the 3rd seat was taken by his friend, Madarame Ikkaku, he opted for seat number five, which he thinks resembles three. He has colourful feathers on his eyelashes and eyebrow.

In the manga, especially the early chapters, Yumichika is drawn somewhat womanly in appearance. This is not seen to the same extent in the anime, however. His vanity doesn't appear to have any limits; when Shiba Ganju (whom Yumichika can never remember because "it is not in [his] nature to remember ugly faces") throws a firework at Yumichika and leaves him with an afro, Yumichika dons a wig to cover up his unattractiveness until his hair is back to normal. Yumichika sometimes tries to do Zaraki Kenpachi's hair for him in the morning because it can take him a long time, but Kenpachi always refuses because he thinks it's gross.

Though shallow and annoyingly arrogant at first glance, Yumichika is a reliable and strong opponent in battle who deeply respects his close friend Ikkaku as well as his captain, Zaraki, who he sometimes tends to creep out due to his lifestyle. Despite his antics, Yumichika loves to fight, as do practically all other 11th Division members. He also doesn't mind being poor (or in such a place), as long as he isn't surrounded by ugly people. Though he is only a 5th seat, he is capable of fighting at a level at or beyond most lieutenants thanks to his zanpakutou's ability to drain the energy of others, leaving them unable to fight. He doesn't reveal this fact because such zanpakutou types are taboo amongst the fight-happy 11th Division. This fact leaves his captain confused, since Yumichika always returns from battle unharmed, usually in better condition than when he left.

Yumichika's history is largely unknown. It is known that before he became a shinigami, he lived in Rukongai. There he met Ikkaku and afterwards Zaraki and Kusajishi Yachiru. Zaraki then fought and defeated Ikkaku.

Yumichika's zanpakutou's name is Fujikujaku (lit. Wysteria Peacock). The initial release command for it is "bloom" (sake).

In it's initial release, Fujikujaku takes the form of a sickle-shaped blade, or falx, distinguished from the khopesh by the cutting edge being located on the inside. A hinge at Fujikujaku's hilt allows it to split into four identical blades. Although Yumichika doesn't admit it to his 11th Division comrades for fear of being hated (since 11th Division zanpakutô are generally used for direct attack), Fujikujaku is a kidou type sword. By using the command sakikurue, Fujikujaku flares up and takes the appearance of many peacock feathers, after which it drains the opponent's spiritual power. Yumichika used this on Vice Captain Hisagi Shuuhei and won, apparently quite easily. It is unclear what the limit of the zanpakutou's power-leeching ability is. He uses this attack to prevent his beauty from being altered (i.e. keeping himself from being injured in combat), which confuses Kenpachi Zaraki, who does not understand how he wins fights without drawing blood.

It is assumed Yumichika is trying to learn the final release, given his recent attempts at "conversation" with his sword; however, Fujikujaku is as narcissistic as Yumichika himself. In a comical scene in the manga, Yumichika is yelling at his sword while trying to break it against a boulder, annoying Hitsugaya and Matsumoto. His training is interrupted when he, along with Matsumoto Rangiku, Madarame Ikkaku, and Hitsugaya Tôshirou, are visited by a group of Espada.

Because Ikkaku has mentioned to Renji he has no interest in teaching anyone else Bankai other then Renji and Yumichika, coupled with his training, it can be assumed that Yumichika is on the verge of achieve Bankai.

When Ichigo and Ganju  first enter Seireitei, they come across Yumichika and Ikkaku. Ganju runs away and Yumichika gives chase, leaving Ichigo and Ikkaku alone to fight. Yumichika chases Ganju, who barely escapes each time his opponent catches up to him and suffers some wounds in the process. All the while, Yumichika insults Ganju about his ugly looks, and doesn't take the fight very seriously. Eventually, Ganju uses a trick involving his fireworks to hurt Yumichika whilst he is in the air, giving the shinigami no chance to dodge and effectively winning the fight. Yumichika is later seen with his hair afro-like and wears a wig to cover his supposed ugliness.

Later on, he accompanies his captain to take Ganju, Ishida Uryû, Sado Yasutora and Inoue Orihime to Ichigo, and than gets involved in a fight against Vice Captain Hisagi Shuuhei. While Hisagi started off well, Yumichika decided to draw upon the ability of his zanpakutô, asking Hisagi not to tell anyone that its true ability involves kidou. With his zanpakutô's ability to drain energy, he easily wins the fight, much to Hisagi's annoyance.

In the Bount/Fillers arc:

Yumichika, among others, was assigned by Hitsugaya to help deal with the problem of the Bount in the human world. He, rather than another shinigami in the 11th Division, was assigned to the task since Zaraki decided that he was the highest ranked member in the Division who was not busy. Busy, in this case, means having fun. Yachiru was snacking, Ikkaku was sleeping, and Yumichika was merely organizing documents. According to Zaraki, work can be done any time, but fun comes first, therefore Yumichika was the one to go. He was assigned to look for the Bounts' hideout while Kira, Hisagi, and Matsumoto engage the Bounts.

After he finds the Bounts' hideout, they are ambushed by Ugaki's doll, Gesell. When Ichigo and Renji enter the hideout, they find Yumichika injured and are almost killed by Gesell themselves, forcing Renji to use his final release in order to defeat Ugaki and his doll. At this point, Yumichika explains to Ichigo how those who have ever been in Zaraki's squad can never shake off the conviction that all of their fights should be fought one-on-one, which is why Renji refuses help from Ichigo. Gesell is sent into a fury by Renji's attack and kills Ugaki (possibly due to the doll being influenced by Kariya), causing the cave to begin to crumble. Yumichika decides to stay behind and assist the badly injured Renji while Ichigo ventures further into the cave.

Later, he and Ikkaku head the patrol for Kariya while Zaraki is missing. The two also direct the sealing of the various spirit power sources scaterred about Soul Society.

In the Arrancar arc:

After the events of Soul Society, he joins Ikkaku, Renji, Rukia, Hitsugaya and Rangiku on the mission to the living world. During Grimmjow Jaggerjack's attack on anyone in the human world with any semblance of spirit power, Edorad Leones confronted Yumichika and Ikkaku. Ikkaku decides to fight Edorad alone. Keigo is worried about Ikkaku's safety, but Yumichika refuses to intervene, explaining to Keigo that interfering would be considered dishonorable among members of the 11th Division and disrespectful to Ikkaku, who barely wins the fight.

After striking a deal with Keigo, Ikkaku and Yumichika found a place to stay while in the real world, helped partly by the fact that Keigo's sister, Mizuho, seems to really like Ikkaku.

In the second Espada attack on the living world, Yumichika briefly fights Luppi, until Luppi releases his zanpakutô. After this point, Rangiku, Ikkaku, and Hitsugaya join the fight. After Hitsugaya was supposedly quickly dealt with, Luppi used his release to trap the other three, including Yumichika. Hitsugaya then stopped Luppi in a surprise attack, freeing Yumichika and the others from his grasp. Though Luppi was defeated, he survived, and the arrancar retreated.

Yumichika and the rest of Hitsugaya's task force then learn that Orihime followed the Arrancar back to Hueco Mundo, and they have subsequently returned to Soul Society to help in the preparation for war against Aizen.